The New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin responded to student protests and encampments on college campuses including Columbia University in his most recent column entitled ‘Beyond Pulling Donations.’
Sorkin reported that “Many business leaders have told me they are deeply concerned about incidents of harassment against Jewish students that have taken place at and around universities like Columbia” and suggested that “business executives who are concerned about antisemitism on college campuses have other options for influencing the schools’ actions.”
Sorkin shared a link to the article on X and wrote: “Controversial thought experiment: What would happen if companies told universities that they wouldn’t hire ANY of their students unless the schools take decisive action to end blatant antisemitism on campus. After all, no company would use an executive search firm with even one employee who openly engaged in antisemitism.”
Former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan relied to Sorkin: “But Andrew, why only antisemitism? Why not Islamophobia and anti-Black racism too? Where are we drawing these lines on what is and isn’t tolerable? And how are we defining antisemitism?”
But Andrew, why only antisemitism? Why not Islamophobia and anti-Black racism too? Where are we drawing these lines on what is and isn’t tolerable? And how are we defining antisemitism?
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 27, 2024
Political scientists including Ibrahim Zabad of Brandeis University have also responded to Sorkin with alternative ‘thought experiments.’
Zabad replied: “Another thought experiment: ‘Controversial thought experiment: What would happen if companies told universities that they wouldn’t hire ANY of their students unless the schools take decisive action to end blatant anti Palestinian racism on campus.’”
if you want to go this direction, why would you single out antisemitism? is there evidence that’s the only form of blatant discrimination there is at scale on college campuses?
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) April 27, 2024
Columbia SIPA political scientist Ian Bremmer also responded to Sorkin: “if you want to go this direction, why would you single out antisemitism? is there evidence that’s the only form of blatant discrimination there is at scale on college campuses?”